Where Singaporean do usually search?
Whenever someone talks about search engines, the first thing that comes to mind is Google. That’s because, since the inception of search engines, Google has been the most dominant search engine in most parts of the world.
But now other search engines are stepping out and pulling an all-out to disrupt the trend.
Marketers are still playing catch up though. Every time they’re vying for online traffic, rest assured all their effort will be directed towards Google. After all, Google controls an upward of 90% of the online traffic in most regions, with the other search engines taking only a small cut of what the internet has to offer.
Assuming you attend an SEO meeting – then we’re willing to bet that majority of what will be discussed in the meeting will about Google, with topics that swing along the lines of “How’s our Organic search?” “How can we get our landing page on the first page of Google or “how can we write a winning featured snipped for Google.”
During the discussion, we can also bet that there will be no one offering a different perspective from what is being discussed. Definitely, none of the co-workers will be suggesting you pivot and consider capturing the traffic from a different search engine, such as Bing or Yahoo.
Goes to show that Google is the most popular search engine that people almost forget that other search engines do exist as well. Powering an upward of 70% of the global search market share, its popularity also makes it one of the most challenging search engines to rank on.
Meaning, you might be missing a critical opportunity to generate an insane amount of traffic should you choose to turn a blind eye to the other search engines, particularly here in Singapore. Top ranking websites in Singapore focus on optimising content for all search engines.
The Dominant Search Engines in Singapore
Evaluating your SEO efforts will sometimes demand that you step out of the Google bubble and consider checking out what the other search engines have to offer. In this post, we try to share the percentage market penetration of individual search engines in Singapore.
The methodology used is pretty simple and straight to the point. Basically, a list of 15 nations with the highest nominal GDP was compiled. StatCounter then proceeded to calculate each search engine’s penetration in every single one of these nations.
The resulting percentages were then rounded to the nearest tenth, with a top 6 list of dominant search engines on each one of these nations released.
In Singapore, Google takes the lion’s share of the search engine market. That hasn’t been the case, considering there was a time when people who used Google and other search engines could easily be divided.
But now we’re operating at a time when if you’re NOT cashing in on Google, then there’s a stronger possibility that you’re misapplying the internet.
And, there’s nothing more vexing than the accelerated pace at which search engines are evolving. Their algorithms are always mutating, starting with the accelerated mobile pages, and now we have the looming index divide tagging along with a lot of uncertainty.
That being said, here are the 5 dominant search engines in Singapore that you should be used to make necessary adjustments to your marketing strategy for even better traffic and lead generation results:
About 95 percent of the population in Singapore don’t even think about which search engine to use, they simply ‘Google it’, that’s according to the Stat Counter report released in the recent past.
Google still stands as the most popular search engine in Singapore, and it’s all for a good reason.
With over 95% of Singapore’s search market share, Google has been found to capture 85% of the mobile traffic. For this reason, Google is considered a viable option if you’re looking to capture paid search or organic traffic – with the only downside being, every marketer in Singapore will be competing for the same traffic.
In addition, Google made some serious changes to their algorithm, like coming up with featured snippets, all of which are meant to add to their users’ experience and fulfill their needs. This, coupled with its popularity, makes it a bit hard for you to capture the kind of traffic you’re interested in.
It’s also been established that businesses in Singapore, whether large or small, have an in-depth understanding of what SEO really is and what it can do to their business and overall growth.
But even with this, SEO is still in expansion. Which is to say, we’re in the adoption phase where its real value is NOT yet realized in some parts of Singapore. It’s also been reported that the majority of Singaporean users have a strong preference for heavy-content sites with strong authority. Meaning, there’s a whole lot you’ll be missing in terms of organic traffic if you’re NOT leveraging SEO and specifically targeting the most dominant search engine in the country, and that is Google.
Yahoo
Yahoo is the second most popular search engine in Singapore, holding 2.05% of the Singaporean search market share.
Though powered by Bing, a good chunk of users in Singapore prefer using the search engine over any other option the market has to offer and it’s because of its sleek interface. Also, as expected, the bulk of those using the search engine access it via mobile.
And while the number of people using Google has been on an inconsequential decline in Singapore, those using yahoo on the other hand have been on an upward trajectory since July. Before this, Bing was the second most dominant search engine in the country.
This makes it an important search engine in its own right – and as we’ve mentioned already, this is partly due to the sleek nature of its interface.
Suffice it to say that the number of Singaporeans using Yahoo almost doubles the number of those using Bing.
Bing
Holding the third position of the search market share in Singapore is Bing. Commanding 1.04% of the search market in Singapore, there are so many reasons anyone would turn to this search engine over any other option on the list.
The core one being the search engine is credited for offering the best video search, even better than Google. First, it’s the interface design that allows videos to be displayed in larger thumbnails that online users can click through or preview by simply hovering over them.
Again, the use of Bing in Singapore has been on a slight drop since July 2018, a decline that saw to it that it would be overtaken by Yahoo for the second position.
Yandex RU
Yandex is the most dominant search engine in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Belarus, and Kazakhstan and the fourth most popular in Singapore.
Holding about 0.25% of the search market share in Singapore, the search engine is offered in two languages – Cyrillic and English. It also comes with cloud storage, with an option for users to search for their own files via the Yandex search bar. This accounts for one of the reasons it’s among the five most dominant search engines in the country.
Baidu
Baidu is one of the newest search engines to come to play, and one of the fastest-growing search engines worldwide. Holding 0.25% of the market share in Singapore, Baidu has grown to be the most popular search engine in China and the fifth most popular one in Singapore.
Its market share has been increasing steadily, according to the latest Wikipedia report and it’s just a matter of time before it becomes a force to reckon with, particularly here in Singapore.
DuckDuckGo
0.2 % of internet users use DuckDuckGo to search for online content. As one of the search engines that has made tremendous strides integrating artificial intelligence into their search system, DuckDuckGo is favored for NOT retaining any form of data. You’re however advised to be more careful when using this search engine to market your products because the analysis it provides is mostly gathered from the searches people make on it.
What Are Differences Between Google and Bing
The majority of people think about Google when they need to use a search engine. However, you may be missing a business opportunity by skipping Bing. Since 2010, both Yahoo and Bing have managed to secure about thirty-three-point-six percent of the search engine market share.
The percentage of the market share differs in different industries. For instance, in searches related to telecommunications, education, and automotive, Bing and Yahoo get approximately eighty percent of all the quests.
Some Singapore marketers have noted that the conversion rate of Bing traffic is higher than that of google traffic. This is related to Bing’s audience having more cash to spend and being more mature. Bing and Google have much in common regarding ranking signals. However, they also have some main differences.
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Backlinks
Trust is one of the things that are given priority by both Bing and Google. Backlinks act as a signal that your website visitors found the content to be relevant, useful, and valuable. They want to share it with other people because they trust your content information. This is the reason why both Google and Bing value backlinks. Google measures your website trust by monitoring the PageRank domains that link to your content.
High page ranks are more valued and have a heavier weight than the low-rank page links. A few of these top PageRank links are worthier than hundreds of low PageRank spammy links. Though Bing values high-quality backlinks, it puts more importance on domain age and other specific domain extensions. Bing highly values websites with many organic backlinks and correctly created domains especially those that end with .edu, .org, and .gov extensions.
These are the factors Bing considers as their trust signals. To some extent, Bing also considers the number of backlinks. However, avoid low quality and spammy links as with Google. Put more effort into quality over quantity. Create about twenty backlinks monthly. -
Kata kunci
Kata kunci present the most significant differences between Google and Bing. Google is intensifying its work of improving the user’s search accuracy by trying to understand more the intention of the searcher and interpreting the different contents from websites. This is in other words referred to as semantic search that depends on the artificial intelligence of the machine as they try to understand the content of web pages.
According to the Google ranking algorithm, the third most important ranking factor is the RankBrain. This involves merely ranking websites according to the comprehensibility of the webpage topics and articles but not by exact match keywords. Contrary to Google, Bing emphasizes more on the use of targeted keywords according to its webmaster guidelines.
You will rank better on the Bing search engine by using exact match keywords including your Meta description, domain, and H1 and H2 title tags. Another difference between these two search engines is that Google uses contextual query clues to give the results that you are searching for.
In contrast, Bing gives the available local results the priority. Bing also offers other options if your query has numerous meanings in an attempt to understand what the user wants -
Meta Keywords
Still, in the keyword subject, the meta keyword is an elephant that we have to address. Google, they are no longer concerned about meta keywords. They started discounting meta tag keywords in 2009, and there are many articles about why you should avoid meta keywords.
Nevertheless, for Bing, meta keywords are functional and alive. A website, may hence rank high on google but rank poorly on Bing and Yahoo due to the absence of meta keywords and descriptions. The fact that meta keywords have a massive impact on Bing doesn’t mean you should stuff your meta tag with irrelevant keywords. -
Multimedia Content
Bing has one of the most advertised features referred to as entity understanding and has been pushing for visual search. Bing has been able to develop its technology to accurately understand and crawl multimedia content including audio, video, and images.
More so, Bing has been able to crawl and comprehend flash websites successfully. For Google, it still depends highly on textual content. High-quality videos and images are still considered but are not weighed as heavily as text-based content. Flash websites are all but non-existent to them. Well, I won’t advise you to build a flash website. However, putting more videos, images, and audio files in your content may give you a step above others in Bing rankings. -
Social Signals
Google has for a long time refused to come clear whether social signals play a role in ranking website pages. This is despite continuous conjectures that it has some particular small roles. It considers Twitter and Facebook like the rest of the indexed pages. However, Bing has come clear and opened up about the significance of social signals.
According to Bing, if you have social media influence, your followers share your content widely which acts as a positive signal to Bing. This will help you to rank higher on the search engine results page. This means that you will have to improve your social media platforms for marketing and advertising strategies.
This is in a bid to maintain higher interactions and engagements regarding many shares, tweets, likes, and comments. Even though incorporating social media in your search engine optimization strategy consumes much time, it is worth your time if you want to optimise for Bing. A social media listening tool is useful to help you get into all conversations concerning your business industry on social media platforms.
Other Search Engines
The rest of the search engines only cover a tiny fraction, almost negligible, of search engines users in Singapore. They include search engines that are a bit narrower in nature such as dogpile, Quora, and Vimeo.
Of the remaining search engines, DogPile is the most popular of the bunch. As a search engine that works by pulling content off other search engines, DogPile is the ideal search engine for searching complex results. It’s even better because it allows you to filter out ads while at it.
It’s the search engine majority of advanced internet users in Singapore use when trying to scour the net without any form of interference from flashing ads.
Overall Internet Usage in Singapore
Singapore has about 5.3 million active internet users as of the time of writing this, with the percentage expected to shoot up to 5.9 million users by 2023.
Speaking of which, an impressive count of internet users in Singapore have admitted to using search engines to discover new products, services, and brands. It’s what they use to dig out for more info regarding a product or service they’re interested in buying or hiring.
Google use has been on a minor decline since July 2018, with Yahoo taking an upward trajectory from there and emerging as the second most used search engine in the country – after beating Bing.
It’s clear that search engines are here to stay. The industry might be disrupted a little, more so with the introduction of mobile, but you can only expect search engines to get better at what they do.
It’s also worth noting that we’re living at a time when people are beginning to note that other search engines do exist. So instead of hearing the whole world heckle ‘lets Google’, you can expect to hear them talking about ‘searching for it’ online at least once in a while.
Number of Users
Of the total count of all internet users in Singapore, 5 million of them have a strong preference for using Google to search for different items online.
Yahoo search on the other hand boasts about 100, 000 active users — a whopping 2.05% of the total number of active internet users in Singapore. They’re closely followed by Bing, with about 50 000 active users, with the rest going to the remaining search engines.
What’s Common Among these Search Engines?
All these search engines have been found to value fresh content. Which is to say regularly publishing fresh posts on your blog or website will most likely boost your online reputation and success.
To rank for Baidu though, it’s recommended that you make an effort of submitting the posts you publish to their News Feed, which happens to be their main attraction point for new readers.
For businesses that want to expand to Singapore, it’s crucial that they start by understanding that the local search engine market is constantly changing and evolving. This information is particularly critical when coming up with a fully functional marketing strategy for securing a prime ranking in local searches.
For businesses that wish to expand globally, by stretching outside the Singaporean market, it’s recommended that they try optimizing their sites and blogs for the key regions – such as Naver for South Korea, and Yandex for Russia to name a few.
Bing and Yahoo are the two most popular search traffic leaders in Singapore.
Yahoo comes next after Google as one of the most dominant search engines in Singapore. It’s closely followed by Bing, with other search engines coming after.
It’s also the fastest-growing search engine in the country, and it’s just a matter of time before it attracts an even bigger share of internet users in Singapore.
The rank of your website on search engine queries gives clients and other interested parties a clue of what to expect from the website. In other words, a higher search engine rank is represented by a lower number for example (#1), while a lower rank is represented by a number like a (#10) for each page. This system of ranking does not happen by chance. Further, from that, several basics determine how websites are ranked on search engine result pages. Let us delve right into them.
Checklist
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Finding Keywords
To find quality keywords, you need to be ready to do extra work to get the desired result, and in good time so that you can get down to businesses quickly. Therefore, you need to roll up your sleeves and start researching the keywords or phrases internet users employ in searching for answers to their problems.
There are two types of keywords. First, there are primary keywords. Primary keywords are those that come from the main context of the content. Getting your content to be ranked high using this set of keywords can be very expensive because of the level of competition in acquiring them. Secondary keywords are less relevant and work to support primary keywords in advertising.
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Crawlable URLs
It is important to make your website crawlable or findable by ‘spiders.’ Commonly called “bots” they are used to index content found on the internet. After the indexing, the Googlebot is then informed of which parts of your website should be focused on. The bots ensure that the contents of a page are appropriately organised so that the bots can be able to index the content in the web index. The features indexed include images, texts, and audiovisual content. Hence, for a Googlebot to verify all this information, search engines use meta tags to tell you what each page of a website does and its components.
A page crawlable by Googlebot is well prepared to get into the unpredictable world of search engine ranking. With search engine ranking, making your website crawlable is the most fundamental and vital step if you are interested in seeing your website rank high for searches on your keywords.
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Use Captivating Meta Descriptions and Title Tags
Title tags and meta descriptions have taken a back seat because a significant number of web owners and content developers are overlooking their importance. Meta descriptions and title tags serve a fundamental purpose as far as searching for content is concerned. The meta description or the title tags of a search help a visitor to have an idea of the content in a website before clicking on it. Using a compelling meta description and title tags helps create rich snippets which attract more click rates.
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Master the Art of Placing Keywords (Primary, Secondary and Related Keywords)
Placing your keywords at strategic positions on your page and website is an art that requires exceptional technical know-how to pull off successfully. It is important to note that not all content on your page should contain a keyword. However, ensure your page include a keyword that fits the content. For example, related keywords are placed on text content so that when a visitor searches for something, Google can parse the text fast and direct the searcher to your page. If you put a keyword on the wrong content, Google is unable to count the keyword as part of your content.
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Scrutinise SERPs For What Is Important
You can do this by yourself. You need to search for keywords associated with your content to give you a picture of what you are up against. Furthermore, you get to know what works and what does not work for your targets. Then you can bridge this gap and offer searchers precisely what they want, and in turn, you get to strengthen your standings in SEO rankings.
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Use Schema Markup and Rich Snippets
Schema markup works like clues on a page that direct you to what you intend to search. Schema markup illuminates parts of a page that may have the relevant content to address your problem. Schema markups work with snippets to simplify how someone searches for something. Snippets are the products of markup. If a search query requires more information to be useful to the searcher, then the search algorithm focuses on it using Schema Markup to add more details.
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Use Professionals to Develop Your Content
First, you need to hire a qualified, credible and person who can share in your vision. The person should be in a position to offer everything to make your content rank as high as possible. Employing a credible and tested hand only works in your favour. You can boost your credibility both in the eye of the clients and Google.
Then, you need to provide answers to problems that make the visitors go to your page. Regardless of how you have optimised your content for search engines, if you do not address the problems of your clients well, you risk losing traffic to your page. Hence, always purpose to deliver on the content better than the highly ranked website.
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Page Speed Optimisation
Page speed is among the key factors Google considers when ranking a page. Page speed in simple terms is the time a page takes to load a page. High page speed helps the searcher a great deal because it is easy and timely to find something online. Therefore, ensure the pages on your website are not packed with too much content that does not serve any purpose to help your course.
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Quality Backlinks
Backlinks are essential in search engine ranking. Backlinks show search engines the confidence other websites have in your content. Possessing quality backlinks from renowned websites and social media handles of public figures like celebrities and respected leaders can attract friendly rankings as well as draw more searchers to your page. The new visitors also invite or refer friends, colleagues, and relatives to the page. Word of mouth help increase online traffic to the website.
Optimizing for the Two Search Engines
Optimizing for the two search engines isn’t very much different from the regular SEO strategy people use to optimize their sites for Google.
It bears repeating that Bing has been powering Yahoo since 2009. Meaning, they both operate on an almost similar SEO strategy.
The search engine is owned by Microsoft, and it’s the default search engine for Internet explorer.
Firefox on the other hand defaults to Yahoo, with other search engines being offered as options.
All this information is meant to make a difference in the SEO strategy you decide to come up with.
One difference is, while Google operates with Latent Semantic indexing that allows them to pull different keyword variations and establish a connection, Bing and Yahoo are a bit old school and will as such require the keyword you optimize to exactly match a particular phrasing.
Also, while Google puts a lot of emphasis on tags and metatags, Bing and Yahoo tend to value titles a little bit more, and it’s for this reason that you’re advised to make good use of SEO tools such as YOAST if you’re looking to rank in them as well.
Get an Edge over Competitors by Impressing Search Engines with SEO and Content
Now that you know the dominant search engines in Singapore, the next thing you need to do is optimise the website to impress them. Your competitors are busy working round the clock to knock you off your current ranking. When it comes to SERP ranking, there are no shortcuts. You have to work smart to match the search engines’ recommended SEO and content marketing practices.
Before we look at some stellar tips on how to get a high ranking, it is important first to point out that 93% of all online experiences start with a simple search for information on Google and other search engines.
Unfortunately, internet users don’t bother to browse through the sites listed on the second and subsequent pages. 95% of all search traffic goes to the websites on the first page, and 68% of the clicks are on the first five listed website results.
Building Links Should Be a Top Priority
A backlink is one of the primary factors used by Google to rank websites. Sites with plenty of links from authority websites such as Forbes are ranked higher than their counterparts. One sure way of getting a top ranking is by striving to get as many genuine links from trustworthy and reputable websites as possible.
Steer clear of sites with a poor reputation or a low domain authority. Network with publishers, bloggers, web admins, and other professionals in the industry to get your articles published on multiple websites.
It is also recommendable to hire guest posting outreach professionals to identify ideal websites to distribute the articles. Once the sites approve the guest post request, make sure that you write an article that is comprehensive and in line with their guidelines. Be sure to include a link to your homepage or service page.
Create Skyscraper Content that’s SEO Optimised
Content is the pillar of any digital marketing and SEO campaign. Poor quality content will hamper your site ranking, thereby reducing its conversion rate and performance.
Content is the foundation of improving your website ranking.
Get ahead of the curve by creating skyscraper content that is search engine optimised. Research to identify topics ranked at the top by search engines and popular on social media. With the topics at hand, use reverse engineering to create new articles better than the existing ones.
Go the extra mile to backlink to existing posts and share the articles with audiences that have shown interest in the same topic. As mentioned earlier, backlinks are a powerful ranking factor, so the more inbound and outbound links, the higher the chances of landing a top spot in search engine results pages.
Here are four tips for creating content that is friendly to not only search engines but also the target users.
- Conduct extensive research to identify relevant keywords, topics, and audiences
- Make sure the keywords are used in the content, meta tags, and header tags
- Content should be published on a website that is responsive and fast
- Promote the content by bringing on board industry influencers and leaders
Before we move on to the next tips, remember to monitor the traffic each post generates to know if it should be improved. In addition, search engines give more preferences to long-form content so ensure the articles are between 1,000 and 2,000 words. Every sentence and paragraph should offer value to the reader.
Invest in a Responsive Website Design
A responsive design will enable your site to automatically adapt the page size and other elements such as images to the user’s device. The visitors should scroll, read, navigate and even place orders when using a tablet, smartphone, or laptop.
Sites with this kind of design are ranked highly because they offer the best user experience to the target audiences. Concisely, mobile-friendliness is a top-ranking factor. Making sure the entire website is responsive will improve ranking significantly.
Images and Videos Should be SEO-Friendly
Pure text may seem ideal for discussing complex topics, but research shows it is ineffective in generating leads. The brain processes visuals better and fast than walls of text. Even though it is impossible to have a website with just visuals, the text should complement or support the visuals.
That said, the videos and images should be SEO-friendly to catapult your website to the top further. Make sure that they are relevant to the topic discussed on the page and your niche. SEO experts believe that if you don’t include a visual in the content, your site risks losing out on potential customers.
Here are two sure-fire tips on how to optimise images.
- Include the target keyword in the file name
- Include the target keyword in the Alt text
Compress the image size using tools such as Kraken and Squoosh. Monitor how the audience engages with the visuals to know which ones best resonate with them. For example, if they prefer Gifs and infographics, invest more time and resources to create them to continue spurring engagement.
Below are tips on how to optimise videos for high ranking in search engine results pages.
- Leverage structured data
- Incorporate a video transcript
- Create a custom video thumbnail and set it
- Ensure the description and the title has the target keyword
Strive to Increase (CTR) Click-Through-Rate in Search Results
Maximising the click-through rate will boost your site ranking.
What is CTR, you may ask? CTR is a metric that shows the percentage of users who click on your website URL when displayed in the SERPs.
To help you better understand what this metric is all about, picture this if 100 people see your website in search results but only 50 click on it, the CTR is 50%. The average CTR in all industries that use AdWords is 0.46% for display and 3.17% for search.
One sure way of increasing CTR is by writing emotional and compelling content that matches the users’ search intent. Include keywords in the content and make sure it’s properly structured with Heading 1, 2, 3… to help bots understand the content.
What is the connection between CTR and search engine rankings? Search engines rank websites that get plenty of clicks highly than those that people rarely click on when displayed in SERPs. It is a sign that the content posted on the site is more suitable and relevant to the audience than similar sites.
Here are tips on how to enhance CTR without breaking the bank.
- The start of the title tags should have the primary keyword
- Primary and secondary keywords should be in the meta descriptions
- Leverage schema markup such as ratings and how-to in the pages
Schedule to monitor the individual website pages CTR by using Google Search Console or any other analytics tool.
SEO Copywriting Hacks to Supercharge your Website
SEO copywriting is an invaluable skill that you should master to scale up your online business.
What is SEO copywriting?
SEO copywriting is the art and science of writing content that your readers and search engines love. Content that meets this requirement not only gets ranked highly but also converts regular website visitors into customers.
Over the years, the importance of ensuring on-site content is top quality has gone up and taken a central position in content marketing strategies. As a copywriter, you need to find the right sentences and words to convince the reader or website visitor to complete the desired action.
To achieve this goal, you need to have a clear understanding of the audience’s needs and preferences. In addition, human psychology will come in handy when creating the content. Unlike other forms of writing, SEO copywriting targets both readers and search engines.
The four primary elements of SEO copywriting are:
- Technical SEO – The technical search engine optimisation aspects include proper site markup, site load time, and mobile friendliness/responsiveness.
- Keyword and Audience Research – These two are the bread and butter of any search engine optimisation strategy. The research helps identify phrases that people use to search the web, their intent, and anything else about them which is important to your brand, such as social class and level of education.
- Content Creation – It’s the process of using the information gathered to create top-notch content that is relevant to the target audiences and compelling.
- On-page SEO Optimisation – It entails fine-tuning the content to ensure that search engines bots crawl and interpret it correctly
So far, so good? Let us proceed and look at the top 5 SEO copywriting tips to give you a higher cutting edge.
Tip 1: Keyword and Audience Research
The first step to creating stellar content that converts and ranks well is knowing who will read it. This information will help you to know the type of words and overall writing style to use. Click here for the best keyword research tools. You can start with Google Keyword Planner during the initial stages.
In regards to audience research, here are five tips on how to do it correctly.
- Create fictional personas of the ideal customers to know which topics will resonate with them best.
- Do web analysis using tools such as Google Analytics to get treasure troves of info about the audience, such as location.
- Carry out a competitor analysis to know what other brands are doing to rank well. Use the information gathered to come up with better content.
- A majority of the target audience are active social media users. Search on these platforms to know their interests and other valuable insights.
- Do keyword research to make your content SEO-friendly.
At the end of this stage, you will have a list of valuable keywords and topics that you can use to kick-start the content marketing campaign.
Tip 2: Content Creation
With the ideal keywords list and topic, it is time to write succinct content. Below are tips to guide you through the process.
- Create a scaffolding/outline to act as a blueprint of the article
- Write the content based on the information gathered. Focus on just writing; the typos and grammar errors will be dealt with in the editing phase.
- Make sure that the text is properly structured. Break down the article into small digestible snippets using small paragraphs, subheadings, headings, lists, and anything else that will make it more scannable.
- Polish the article before publishing it. Pay close attention to the sentence and paragraph structure. Use plenty of transition words to increase readability. Tools such as Grammarly and Yoast SEO will come in handy at this stage.
If you have a busy schedule, consider hiring a content writing agency. The agency will handle the keyword research and all the other steps for you.
Tip 3: Headline Optimisation
The headline captures the attention of the readers and encourages them to click and read the content. It can either make or break the on-site content. Take the time to write captivating headlines with valuable keywords. Here is a comprehensive guide on how to create magnetic headlines for any niche and audience.
Tip 4: Carry Out On-Page Optimisation
By now, you have stellar content that has the right keywords and is written based on the information gathered when doing keyword and audience research.
The next step is conducting on-page optimisation to meet all Google SEO best practices. Ensure that you don’t miss the below markers.
- Ensure the keyword is used in all the important places such as title, headings, introduction, image file, ALT tags, Alt text, and URL. Yoast recommends maintaining a keyword density of between 0.05% and 2.5%.
- Meta descriptions and title tags will be displayed on search engine results pages. Make sure they are optimised to increase the click-through rate. Include a CTA in the meta description, and the title tags should be compelling.
- Include visuals such as images relevant to the topic to spice up the content. Be sure to compress the images to avoid hurting the site load times. Include a keyword in the file name and alt text to pop up in image search results
- Link to authority external sites and articles posted on your website to add weight to the content.
Yoast SEO is one of the best plugins for making sure content is search engine optimised before publishing. However, you can use additional tools such as SurferSEO to get even better results.
Top Algorithm Updates You Should Keep in Mind to Impress Search Engines in Singapore
Google updates its algorithms several times a year. Sometimes, these changes go unnoticed since they are minor. They are also not formally announced, making it hard for SEO companies in Singapore to keep up since the updates dramatically change the search engine results.
Here are major Google algorithm important updates, their potential dangers, and preventative measures for each.
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Bert
BERT is a Google algorithm update that uses natural language processing techniques to analyze texts, comprehend questions, and identify entities and relationships between things. Since there is a rise of voice search assistants, this method has become essential in the ranking algorithm.
Google released its first BERT update in English, followed by updates in over 70 additional languages. Google described it as a significant advancement in the previous five years. According to previous studies, it affected 10% of all search inquiries.
Potential Dangers
-The languages are unnatural and formalized
-Short-tail keywords with an exact match
How To Stay Safe with Bert?
Use keyword research to identify user intent– Use the Related Questions technique, which includes Question Autocomplete forms and People Also Ask to find long-tail keywords. These keywords will help you optimize your site to respond effectively to visitors’ searches for those keywords.
It is advisable to use natural language in the FAQ section since it improves your chances for top ranking in the search results and highlighted snippets.
Compare the top ten using TF-IDF analysis– Increase your website’s size and relevancy to comply with BERT and other crucial natural language algorithms. To do this, use the TF-IDF and content editor analysis tools that are incorporated in Website Auditor.
However, TF-IDF is an outdated language model, and it works differently from Bert, but it can help optimize. It enables you to identify relevant keywords by evaluating the top ten rivals and collecting the terms they share. - Medic Core Update
Photo credits: Google.com
The Google Medic algorithmic change seems to impact medical websites significantly and other websites dealing with other important aspects of life such as law, finance, and education. This update was made to emphasize the importance of quality.
Although not formally verified, Google personnel have hinted those websites scoring well under the Expertise Authority and Trust (EAT) criteria are given a higher value. This is because these searches might have a significant impact on your health and finances.
Potential Dangers
-Keyword-optimized pages have a mixed user intent.
How To Stay safe With Medic Core Update?
Optimize your website– You have to conduct extensive research on relevant keywords. Also, look for long-tail keywords since they will help you know what users are looking for on your page. You can do keyword research using Rank tracker’s keyword research module. Collect these keywords in the Keyword Sandbox and filter them until you find suitable keywords.
Grow backlinks to your website- Backlinks can help you increase your site’s authority. Use tools such as SEO SpyGlass to know what your competitors are doing. You will also be able to identify potential websites in your niche to link with. -
RankBrain
RankBrain is a machine learning technology that helps Google understand the meaning of searches and provide relevant search results.
RankBrain was the first to introduce artificial intelligence to the Google algorithm. This section of the algorithm can track user behavior and query responses to know more about the purpose and value of specific sites. It is currently the third most significant ranking indicator for Google.
It is known for using traditional SEO factors such as on-page optimization and links. It then looks for relevant features on the sites in the index and organizes the results in SERPs accordingly.
Potential Dangers
-There aren’t any relevant query-specific features
-Poor user experience
How To Stay Safe With RankBrain
Enhance the user experience– Bad user experience can down-rank your website in SERPs. Monitor your users’ experience on Google analytics, particularly session duration and bounce rate. You can also A/B test different versions of your website to see which version performs better. Enhance your user experience by improving your content and adding images and videos.
Do competition research– You may get a list of essential keywords and concepts used by many top-ranking competitors using WebSite Auditor’s TF-IDF tool. Look for a way to include these phrases into your content, and your search relevancy will increase. -
Mobile Update
The mobile update is also known as Mobilegeddon. This upgrade was meant to force websites to become mobile-friendly or be down-ranked in SERPs. However, the update had no effect on desktop searches.
Since the Mobile-Friendly Update is done at the page level, one of your website pages may be certified as mobile-friendly and get higher rankings, while the others may fail the test. The Mobile-Friendly Update was one of a series of ranking algorithms that operated in tandem. The Mobile-Friendly Update had little impact if a page was already highly ranked due to its excellent content and strong user interaction.
Potential Dangers
-The page does not have a mobile version
-The viewport was wrongly setup
-The viewport was wrongly setup
-Use of Plugins
How To Stay Safe With Mobile-Friendly Update?
Test to see if your website is mobile-friendly– After making your website mobile-friendly, you should not stop there. To be top-ranked in Google SERPs, ensure you meet Google’s mobile-friendly criteria. You take the Google test quickly on SEO PowerSuite’s Website Auditor. - Possum Update
Photo credits: Google.com
Possum update is among Google’s recent algorithmic changes. Following the Possum update, Google will provide more diverse results based on the searcher’s query wording and actual location. The closer you are to a company, the more likely you will find it among local results.
Surprisingly, Possum also boosted companies outside the actual physical limits. Previously, if your business weren’t in the place you selected, the search engine would not put it in the local pack. Furthermore, similar-type companies that share addresses may be downranked in the search results.
Potential Dangers
-Sharing a physical location with a comparable company
-Competitors with a business address closer to the searcher
How To Stay Safe with Possum?
Create a geo-specific rank tracking system– Following the Possum update, the place where you check your rankings significantly impacts the outcomes. If you haven’t done it already, set up a search filter in SEO PowerSuite’s Rank Tracker with a specific region to check positions.
Increase the number of local keywords in your list– Because Possum produced more variance in the results for similar searches, keep track of your positions for each variant individually.
Bing’s Ranking Factors That Search Engines Look At
There are common SEO strategies that improve the quality of many websites generally. However, keep in mind that every search engine interprets website elements differently. Strategies that work for Google may not necessarily work for Bing.
Here are the main factors that Google considers when ranking content.
- Mobile-Friendliness
Being is less concerned with mobile optimization compared to Google. However, it is still concerned, and it is used as a ranking factor. There was a lot of stress in the SEO industry when Google announced that they would use mobile-friendliness to rank websites since they were not prepared. However, companies have embraced it eventually.
Bing also decided to embrace it. They even offer a mobile-friendliness testing tool just like google. Content size, readability, and spacing are the ranking factors Bing considers to determine the effectiveness of a website. Viewport configuration and the button’s size on mobile browsers are also some of the factors used in ranking. - Fresh Content
Bing prefers fresh and updated data. Therefore, new content will automatically rank at the top. They believe that new and updated information is accurate and it will be helpful to their users. They also believe that the information will remain relevant in several years to come.
However, in some circumstances, contents become obsolete quickly and need to be updated. - Keywords In Content
Bing puts a greater emphasis on precise keywords in the content. This is one of the major similarities of both Bing and Google. Moreover, they utilize keywords in the content to convey relevance to their algorithms. However, Bing’s ranking algorithms are more concerned with exact matches and precise keyword usage. Google has also expanded to incorporate synonyms of keywords used in ranking.
If you have an effective Google keyword strategy in place with synonyms and lucrative long-tail keywords, you’re already midway to improved Bing ranks. - Quality and Credibility
An author’s credibility and site reputation are also factors used to determine Bing’s rankings. One of the ways it uses to determine the quality and trustworthiness is to evaluate the page itself, which includes things like the site’s or author’s reputation. For instance, content with references to data sources is regarded as high quality than one without references.
Additionally, Bing may also downrank content with offensive statements or content that uses demeaning language to communicate. It also examines the material to check if it is comprehensive and the authorship is clear. - Backlinks
Backlinks are an indicator of content trustworthiness and general quality, according to Bing. Bing majorly focuses on the source of the links. They have to be from a credible source. It also focuses on the age of the backlinks.
It is important to note that links from older high-quality sites can enhance your SEO rankings than links from new and low-quality sites. - Relevance
Relevance refers to the degree to which the information on the landing page fits the purpose behind the search term. This covers terms found on the site itself and phrases found in links to the website. Bing also considers semantic counterparts, such as synonyms and initials, which may or may not be perfect matches for the query phrases but are believed to have a similar meaning. - Social Media and Rankings
One difference between Bing and Google is that Bing uses social media sharing for ranking. Google claims that social signals do not impact its results, but Bing has acknowledged that sharing is a crucial SEO ranking element based on influence.
Bing’s algorithms are built to detect social signals and content frequently shared on social media. The more it is shared and reshared, the higher it ranks. - User-Engagement
Bing uses engagement factors such as time spent on site and click-throughs to rank its websites. It asks questions like, “Did people take time to read the results of their search queries, or did they quickly return to Bing? Is it possible that the user rephrased their queries?”
It also asks questions like “Did users click through search results of a particular query, and if yes, which ones? All these questions help them evaluate user engagement. - Page Load Time
Page loads time is also another factor that Bing considers for rankings. According to Bing, a slow loading page will make visitors leave your website and go to other sites to look for information. These visitors may go to your competitor’s website, making you lose earnings or give your competitor an upper hand in the competition.
Bing views this as a bad user experience. The visitors are likely to avoid your page the next time they are looking for information. Therefore, ensure you improve your website’s loading time for high Bing rankings. - Location
When ranking results, Bing takes into account the searcher’s location or the page’s hosting location. It also takes into account the document’s language and the user’s location. - Domain vs URL
Domain authority (DA) is also favored by Bing’s rankings more than it is by contemporary Google. This implies that it gives a higher priority to a website’s overall authority and relevance when searching. Individual page credibility is also significant.
There’s also proof that a domain that matches precise keywords fare better in search. Google considers this outdated. There’s no need to modify your domain to take advantage of this. However, if you have a keyword-focused domain name, you are likely to see an improvement in the performance of your Bing rankings.
Let’s wrap it up
It’s quite impossible to walk away from Google, but it’s important to factor in another search engine as well while you’re working on a solid SEO strategy. The process can be stressful, but at a time when everyone is so focused on Google that they forget other search engines exists, you simply have so much to gain when you choose to focus the same amount of effort and energy on other search engines as well.
Algorithmic changes for search engines are essential because it helps in improving the way search engines look for information on websites. It also helps in changing strategies used to get the necessary information. They also play a significant role in removing spam, appearing at the top of search results using a keyword preference algorithm.
Contact MediaOne Marketing today for professional guidance on how to beat your competitors in SERPs. Our team will come up with laser-focused SEO strategies to help you win. See you on the other side.
Pertanyaan Umum
What are the top search engine in Singapore
-Yahoo/Bing
– Baidu
